West is best for technology innovators

Parramatta, Australia’s new tech hub, is the logical home for IXUP’s development team

We love helping our customers use data to help improve their businesses and their customers’ lives in some way, big or small. Since IXUP’s inception, I’ve been designing products here that allow our customers to do just that.

IXUP pioneered secure data collaboration in 2011 when we first put down roots in Parramatta in Western Sydney, housing our then-small development team. Back then, the phrase “secure data collaboration” led to blank looks when we shared our vision for what was quickly becoming a data-driven world. At that time, the need to find secure ways to collaborate on data wasn’t something that kept business leaders awake at night. As surprising as it may sound now, in IXUP’s early years, many senior executives – even in the largest organisations – struggled to see, and effectively respond to, the rising challenge of data privacy and security. Sure, they wanted to leverage their data to improve their business, but the idea of collaborating with other people’s data to turbo-charge the value of their data wasn’t top of mind, and the resultant concerns about the risk of “sharing” data – that is, handing it over to someone else and losing control of it – wasn’t obvious.

As the importance of this new world of trusted collaboration has grown over the years, so too has our development team. Earlier this year, we determined that we needed a bigger, better space in which to work together. We looked at some of the available options: Should we follow the pack and move to the Sydney CBD? Should we be uninspiring and move to an out-of-the-way business park? Or should we remain in Parramatta and reinvest in the place where it all began?

I’ve lived in the Parramatta area all my life, and I am seeing it start to realise its potential. It may be Australia’s second oldest city, but it’s quickly becoming its newest business and tech hub, with billions being invested in the infrastructure needed to support the industries that will drive Australia’s economic growth. This investment includes best practice in city design, technology and connectivity, embracing best-in-class technology and open-data principles.

The rejuvenation of Parramatta has attracted a steady stream of businesses and government organisations. About 30% of Australia’s top 500 organisations have set up in the western Sydney metropolis, including those in healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, science, retail and public administration.

For IXUP, the decision about where to locate our new growing development team was simple in the end. We’ve always liked to challenge the status quo, and we certainly don’t like to be uninspiring. We chose to reinvest in Parramatta and see it as a key location to attract the best local talent to drive innovation as IXUP keeps growing.

I’m continually amazed by what we’ve accomplished in IXUP’s journey so far. I’m fortunate to have been at the coalface of this ever-changing and always exciting environment and to be a part of such an amazing team. We’ve been at the new office for a couple of months now and we’re already hard at work on our next release.

As Parramatta looks to future proof the Australian economy, IXUP will be there too, to help organisations future proof the way they harness the best insights from their data in a secure, sustainable way.

By Neil Dryland, IXUP Senior Designer and Parramatta local.

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